I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 104 General Tong, You Are Late

Zhao Zi said that he would take out 15% of the spoils of the Battle of Hangzhou and return them to Chen Jian and Zhao Yue for fair disposal.

This bargaining chip was enough to make them help Zhao Zicheng offend people and write a letter to stop Tong Guan.

So a day later, Tong Guan's army, which had just marched south from Zhenjiang Prefecture and reached the border of Changzhou, received good news from Hangzhou.

At that time, Tong Guan was accompanied by Liu Yanqing, the general of the Western Army, as well as Wang Bing and Yang Weizhong who had just arrived, and an army of 50,000.

"Report! General, urgent news from Hangzhou!"

Tong Guan was a eunuch who disliked the discomfort of riding a horse, so he traveled by boat. The army was traveling along the Jiangnan Canal, about to enter Taihu Lake from the border of Changzhou Prefecture. When he heard the word "urgent report" on the warship, he shuddered for no reason, subconsciously thinking that it was another piece of bad news.

"Hangzhou's civil and military officials, can't they even defend a city? Didn't they just report that Liu Guangshi and his men defeated Fang La's detachment in Haining a while ago? With only a few days left, could Hangzhou be lost just like that..."

Tong Guan nervously unfolded the urgent report. Liu Yanqing, Wang Bing and Yang Weizhong beside him also pricked up their ears, not daring to breathe, but just lowered their heads and glanced sideways to observe the changes in Tong Taiwei's expression.

Tong Guan's brows were first tightly furrowed, then suddenly relaxed, his eyeballs widened as big as copper bells, and darted around rapidly up and down and left and right.

For a moment, Tong Guan's eyes even broke through the normal human physiological constraint that "the two eyeballs must look in the same direction", and his left eye moved up and his right eye moved down irregularly.

Then he tightly grasped the urgent report, and his fingers, like eagle claws, crumpled the corners of the paper into two small balls.

Liu Yanqing and the others grew increasingly hesitant, their hearts trembling with anxiety: How bad or good was the news? But regardless of whether it was good or bad, it was definitely something serious!
After a long time, Tong Guan finally breathed a sigh of relief:

"Hangzhou's outer city was indeed lost! After Fang La entered the city, he burned, killed, looted, and left no one alive. Fortunately, within two days of the loss, the reinforcements stationed in Haining, upon seeing what was happening in Hangzhou, didn't wait for us to join forces. They took the initiative and risked their lives to rescue the city, ultimately defeating Fang La in a field battle.

The envoys from Liangzhe reported that Fang La had fled overnight to Muzhou and Wuzhou in western Zhejiang, and that Hangzhou was no longer in danger of being invaded. "If we were anxious to capture Fang La, we should have headed directly south along the west bank of Taihu Lake to Muzhou and Wuzhou, and there would have been no need to rescue Hangzhou."

The moods of Liu Yanqing and others also fluctuated greatly with Tong Guan's description. When they heard the first sentence "Hangzhou was lost", everyone was extremely sad and regretful, but then they heard that Fang La was repelled in a desperate battle in the field, and everyone fell into incomprehensible ecstasy.

How...how did we win this?
"But, isn't the total number of soldiers from Su, Hu and Xiu states stationed in Haining barely 10,000? Fang La has an army of 100,000. Could the battle report be wrong? Ten thousand took the initiative to attack and destroyed the enemy of 100,000?" Liu Yanqing was mature and prudent, and felt that there was a problem.

Tong Guan smiled, but his smile was not genuine. Instead, it was a sneer tinged with regret: "It is said that the generals in Haining heard that Hangzhou was at a critical moment and that if they did not rescue it, Fang La would take advantage of it. Therefore, they disregarded their own safety and did not care about their strength or numbers.

Crossing the Grand Canal and Shangtang River, they advanced with all their might, showing the enemy they would die, with no intention of retreating. At Qinghe Weir, they fought a decisive battle, defeated 100,000 enemies, captured and forced half of them to surrender! They killed countless of Fang La's generals, and Fang La himself escaped with his life, fleeing to far western Zhejiang!

"Hiss—" Liu Yanqing, Wang Bing and Yang Weizhong gasped in unison.

Burn the boats, what a niche saying. Have you ever seen such a thing since the founding of the Song Dynasty?
"Then... I don't know who was responsible for the achievement in the end. Could it be that Zhao Zicheng was able to..." Liu Yanqing was the most senior among the generals and couldn't help but ask this question.

Tong Guan's expression was also complicated. "The battle report says that the host and guest armies fought independently, cooperating with each other. However, it was your son and your subordinate Han Wu who were the first to break through the enemy's formation, breaking through Fang La's central army during the fierce battle. Han Wu then killed Fang La's central guard and severed Fang La's banner. Zhao Zicheng, the Liangzhe Road Governor, and the Inspector General all said the same thing, and they even signed their names."

In his victory report, Zhao Zicheng still gave away most of the tactical credit. Zhao Zicheng knew that as a member of the royal family, if he reported all the details of his military achievements truthfully, he would be feared by the emperor and other princes.

How can a guy named Zhao be so good at fighting?

Being half a step ahead of the times makes you a pioneer; being two steps ahead of the times makes you a martyr.

Before the Jingkang Incident, Zhao Zicheng could not reveal his full military potential in front of his uncle, the emperor.

He would rather use his military achievements to exchange for other merits and rewards, or even simply use them to buy the gratitude and secret loyalty of his generals.

Therefore, in Zhao Zicheng's victory report, he downplayed his own strategic planning and omitted all his strategic planning and considerations. However, the visible merits of killing the enemy and making meritorious contributions were also given equal weight.

It is not wrong to say that the credit for breaking into the enemy's formation goes to Liu Guangshi, Han Shizhong and Lin Chong, as they all did break into the enemy's formation.

Han Shizhong alone enjoyed the honor of beheading generals and capturing flags, which was already glorious enough. If all the rewards were given to him, given his humble background, he would not be able to bear the sudden loss of strength and would be extremely hated.

Since the civil officials of Liangzhe Road all reported this way, Tong Guan certainly could not adjust the distribution of military merits. The most he could do was give himself some credit for "merit in strategic planning", but there was almost no room for maneuver.

Wang Bing and Yang Weizhong couldn't help but secretly lament: "If we had known that Fang La was so vulnerable, that even a hundred thousand rabble couldn't withstand ten thousand government troops, we wouldn't have needed to gather fifty thousand men to march south. We should have marched south sooner!"

Liu Yanqing didn't feel any pity, as Han Wu, who had made meritorious service, was his subordinate after all, and his own son Liu Guangshi's meritorious service was no different from his own. In fact, Liu Yanqing felt even more grateful to Zhao Zicheng, because he knew that Zhao Zicheng must have taken care of his son in the distribution of military merits.

Of course, Zhao Zicheng also didn't forget to promote his own men. The contributions of Yang Zhi and Lu Da in holding the two wings were exaggerated, and their subsequent pursuit and counterattack achievements were emphasized. Zhao Zicheng was always generous in promoting and praising his own men, as he didn't need so much direct combat military merit.

After feeling regretful for a while, Tong Guan didn't get too hung up on it. The main reason was that he had never been to Hangzhou and had no idea how prosperous it was.

He couldn't imagine how much wealth Zhao Zicheng had made in this battle by recaptured the spoils looted by Fang La, so his jealousy was not so strong.

The Liangzhe Road officials, Chen Jian and Zhao Yue, would also give Tong Guan some money as a token of their gratitude for his journey. Even if Tong Guan did not arrive in Hangzhou, Hangzhou officials would still have to pay for his travel expenses.

With this money to silence him, Tong Guan was able to figure things out.

A day later, he ordered the army to change its route, heading south along the west bank of Taihu Lake and heading straight for Tianmu Mountain.

At this point, the credit for capturing Fang La must be accomplished by Tong Guan's own troops. Otherwise, after returning to Bian Jing, Tong Guan would not be able to hold his head up in front of Zhao Ji. Wouldn't his trip be in vain and a waste of the country's money and food?

Tong Guan's three generals also had no objections. Tong Guan also ordered the rear troops, Xin Xingzong, Wang Huan and others who had not yet arrived in Jiangnan, not to come and immediately stationed on the spot. Or return a little and choose a place nearby where there is sufficient military rations and no need to transport them.

This way, tens of thousands of people would be mobilized less, and the court would spend less money and food. The savings could barely support the subsequent attack on Liao - if the court really insisted on attacking Liao.

Finally, Tong Guan also issued some personnel transfers and appointments on the spur of the moment, mainly to reward honors and suppress the trend of some people emerging too quickly in the army.

For some of the lower-level personnel appointments, Tong Guan directly issued them in his own name based on his authority to act at his own discretion.

Some of the higher-level ones were sent to Bian Jing urgently over 600 miles so that Zhao Ji could make the decision personally.

Tong Guan could make decisions on his own, including the following appointments:

First, Han Shizhong, as the most meritorious commander in the Battle of Hangzhou, was promoted to the rank of Du Yu Hou and given the additional rank of Governor of Muzhou. In the Song Dynasty, the title of Governor was a nominal position, affording military officers the rank of a fourth-rank official, without real power. Because the Song Dynasty prioritized civil service over military power, even a fourth-rank military officer was not considered particularly prestigious. Liu Guangshi's contributions in the Battle of Hangzhou were not as significant as Han Shizhong's, but he had already made significant contributions in the previous Battle of Haining, and combined, his contributions in both battles were comparable to Han Shizhong's.

At the same time, because Liu Guangshi had a backer, his father was close to Tong Guan. In addition, his original position was slightly higher than Han Shizhong. This time, Tong Guan sent several battalions of Western Army cavalry to assist in the defense. Liu Guangshi was originally the chief officer, and Han Shizhong was just his deputy.

So, in the end, Liu Guangshi, like Han Shizhong, was promoted twice, reaching the rank of Commander-in-Chief, finally commanding the Western Army alone, with a designated strength of ten battalions, or four to five thousand men. Han Shizhong, however, could only serve as Liu Guangshi's deputy.

As for military officer ranks, Liu Guangshi received the treatment of an inspector-general, which was the third rank, higher than Han Shizhong's fourth rank. However, military officer ranks were not worth much.

In addition to these two Western Army generals, Zhao Zicheng's group of local Jiangnan generals were also rewarded according to their merits.

Yang Zhi's identity was originally innocent. He was just a battalion commander before, but now he has been promoted to Du Yu Hou. His main achievement was killing Shi Bao in the previous Battle of Wujiang, which was also the main contribution to the victory of the Battle of Wujiang.

Lin Chong and Lu Da, who were originally of lower rank than him and were also illegal residents, were promoted to battalion commanders this time and still had to serve under Yang Zhi.

However, the jump from Yu Hou to Battalion Commander is not that big, and it should be easier for low-level military officers to be promoted. It seems that Lin Chong and Lu Da are slightly disadvantaged in their promotion.

However, Zhao Zi claimed that he had taken advantage of this opportunity to help Lin Chong and Lu Da to gain some additional benefits. In the battle report he gave to Tong Guan, he took the opportunity to mention some small matters, subtly hinting that "he had not known before that Lin Chong and Lu Da had joined the army to conceal their identities." However, in view of the fact that these two people were indeed loyal to the court and fought bravely many times, and that their previous crimes might have been unjust, he hoped that the Taiwei would investigate clearly.

At the same time, Zhao Zicheng also hinted, "In order to prove my innocence, to prove that I really don't know the identities of Lin Chong and Lu Da, and I don't want to shield these two people, so I ask General Tong to handle it impartially and make new divisions to clear my suspicion."

To put it simply, Zhao Zicheng took the initiative to express that he was willing for Tong Guan to temporarily transfer Lin Chong and Lu Da so that they would not work under him, Zhao Zicheng, for the time being, to prove that he, Zhao Zicheng, did not form a clique for personal gain or seek to build personal power in the army.

At the same time, he also specifically recommended that Yang Zhi, Lin Chong, and Lu Da had previously practiced a formation and tactics suitable for mountain warfare. Although this tactic was of little use in the north, it was very useful in suppressing rebels and remaining bandits in the mountainous areas of Jiangnan.

So please ask the commander to give them a chance and continue to use their strengths in suppressing bandits in the mountainous areas of western and southern Zhejiang. He, Zhao Zicheng, is not qualified to continue pursuing them out of the country, and the subsequent rebellion suppression war has nothing to do with Zhao Zicheng.

Zhao Zicheng dared to say this because he knew very well that Lin Chong and Lu Da were both righteous people, and he had helped them so much. With these people's loyalty and gratitude, he would definitely be able to use them in the future.

Even if their direct superior is someone else by then, as long as Zhao Zicheng needs him, he can make Lin Chong and Lu Da join him again with just a wave of his hand.

Zhao Zicheng's status as a member of the imperial clan also meant that he had to keep a low profile after Fang La's rebellion was quelled. Temporarily dispersing these people was also a strategy of "having three burrows for a cunning rabbit." After the imperial court seized his military power, it was bound to make up for it in other areas.

Tong Guan was also very satisfied after reading Zhao Zicheng's statement. He had been thinking that Zhao Zicheng, a man with the surname Zhao, had too many connections in the army, which was not good. Now that Zhao Zicheng took the initiative to offer a pillow, he went along with it.

So Tong Guan thought about it and subsequently sent Yang Zhi to Wuzhou, and Lin Chong and Lu Da also went with him, and asked them to be responsible for leading troops to pursue and suppress the bandits in Chuzhou, Taizhou, Wenzhou and other places in the mountainous areas of southern Zhejiang, as well as the part south of Lanxi River in Wuzhou.

At the same time, Tong Guan also made it clear that he would no longer pursue the issues involving Lin Chong, Lu Da and others. After transferring them away from Zhao Zicheng, this was enough to prove that Zhao Zicheng had no intention of sheltering them before, and that Zhao Zicheng was also a "victim" who was deceived by these people who concealed their identities.

In other words, Tong Guan divided the entire subsequent Jiangnan rebellion battlefield into two parts, with the Qiantang River-Lanxi River as the boundary. In the area southeast of the Lanxi River, he let Yang Zhi and others serve as vanguards, and appointed Wang Bing, the general from the Western Army, as the main general.

As for Wuzhou and half of Quzhou northwest of Lanxi River, and the entire Muzhou and Shezhou, Liu Guangshi, Han Shizhong and others served as vanguards, with Liu Yanqing as the main general.

Tong Guan himself advanced to the Fuchun area to coordinate the troops, and then appointed Yang Weizhong as the general reserve force to respond flexibly.

Judging from the division of territory, the areas of attack planned by Wang Bing, Yang Zhi, Liu Yanqing and Liu Guangshi were almost the same size, and the coastal area targeted by Wang Bing was slightly more prosperous.

But considering that Fang La himself fled to Muzhou, the final military merit would definitely be greater for the Muzhou route because there would be a chance to capture the main culprit.

In the southeast, we can only fight against minor response-type bandit leaders such as Chen Shisi and Lu Shinang.

……

Tong Guan's series of deployments were quickly sent to Hangzhou.

When Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong heard that they had been promoted twice in a row, they were very excited and expressed their gratitude to Zhao Zicheng profusely.

Especially Han Shizhong, when he heard that Zhao Zicheng had truthfully reported his three major achievements in the Battle of Hangzhou, namely, breaking through the enemy lines, beheading the generals, and capturing the flag, which allowed him to be promoted twice, Han Shizhong was so moved that he wanted to kowtow to Zhao Zicheng.

In the end, Zhao Zicheng persuaded them with a very open-minded attitude: "Brother Liu, Brother Han, there's no need to be so. I'm just not greedy or taking advantage of others. What belongs to whomever is theirs. I seek truth from facts. When was there ever a time when the civil servants of the Great Song Dynasty needed to be so grateful for doing their duty? If you continue to act this way, you'll look down on me."

Since Zhao Zicheng had said so, Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong had no choice but to stop.

Afterwards, Zhao Zicheng comforted Yang Zhi, Lin Chong and Lu Da, and asked them to continue working hard after following the new leader.

"Master Lin, Lu Zhijie, I've put a lot of thought into this idea. From now on, you can use your real names and no longer have to hide. Although this is only a half-level promotion, it eliminates the hidden dangers of your background and past crimes, which is a happy thing.

In order to prove that I did not "collude" with you in advance and that I was deceived by you, I must let Tong Guan transfer you away and follow Brother Yang to southern Zhejiang to quell the rebellion.

I'm a civilian official, and unless it's absolutely urgent, I can't leave the country with the army. After Hangzhou is recaptured, I should return to my duties as a civilian official. If you don't follow me, you'll have a chance to continue making meritorious contributions. Don't underestimate petty thieves like Lu Shinang and Chen Shisi. Killing one, or even capturing one alive, is a meritorious service, and accumulating them might even earn you a promotion up to a certain level or two."

Lin Chong felt very ashamed, and Lu Da felt even more aggrieved.

They all thought that Zhao Tongpan was cutting ties at this time in order to give them a chance to continue making meritorious contributions. If they just died like this, wouldn't they be considered ungrateful?

Lu Da roared in protest, saying that it didn't matter what rank he held as an official, he just wanted to be free and didn't want to work hard for other corrupt officials.

In the end, Zhao Zicheng put on a stern face and reasoned with them, "This is also to help me avoid suspicion." Lin Chong and Lu Da reluctantly agreed. Before leaving, the two men broke an arrow and swore an oath, saying that if Zhao Tongpan needed them, they would be there at his beck and call, even if it meant disobeying orders.

After dealing with everyone's future, Yang Zhi and the other three generals asked Zhao Zicheng about his official position: "We have only made some auxiliary contributions and have been promoted. However, the Tongpan has made great contributions, but the court has not appointed him as a judge?"

Zhao Zicheng said with a smile, "I have already taken over the post of magistrate of Suzhou. How can Tong Guan decide whether a civil official should be promoted? He must have already rushed 600 miles to Bianjing to ask for instructions. You don't have to worry about me. Rest for a few days and then continue your advance. Now is the time to make great progress. Don't miss the opportunity."

Zhao Zicheng's judgment was indeed correct, because Tong Guan's request had indeed been sent to Bian Jing, but the journey was too long and Zhao Ji had no time to reply.

After hearing the result of the Battle of Hangzhou, Zhao Ji was no less surprised than Tong Guan - even though Tong Guan's report had downplayed Zhao Zicheng's personal performance and emphasized more the Western Army generals he brought with him.

(End of this chapter)